PCL1 Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Dodgers Game Notes - June 7, 2018

Published on June 7, 2018 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Dodgers (34-21) vs. Sacramento River Cats (29-31)

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Francisco Giants

Game #56 of 140/Road #27 of 70 (11-15)

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Tyler Pill (0-1, 5.17) vs. SAC-RHP Taylor Hill (0-0, 0.00)

Thursday, June 7, 2018 | Raley Field | West Sacramento, Calif. | 9:05 p.m. CT

Radio: KGHM AM-1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio - Alex Freedman

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Dodgers close out their three-game road series against the Sacramento River Cats at 9:05 p.m. Central time at Raley Field. The series is tied, 1-1.

Last Game: The Dodgers racked up nine runs and 13 hits in a 9-3 victory over Sacramento Wednesday night at Raley Field. The Dodgers started the scoring with two runs in the second inning. Edwin Ríos led off the frame with a solo blast for his first homer of the season. Later in the inning, Dodgers pitcher Manny Bañuelos laid down a perfect squeeze bunt along the first base line to score Kyle Garlick and make it 2-0. Bañuelos' counterpart Tyler Beede got him back in the bottom of the inning, knocking a two-out RBI single to pull the River Cats within one. With a runner on in the top of the fourth inning, Garlick pummeled a two-run homer to put the Dodgers ahead, 4-1. Another run scored on an error in the fifth, and Alex Verdugo laced a two-run double to right-center field in the sixth to grow the lead to 7-1. Sacramento scored once in the sixth to stop the stretch of five straight runs by the Dodgers, but OKC answered back in the seventh with a RBI single by Michael Ahmed. The River Cats scored their final run in the seventh, and Henry Ramos tallied the Dodgers' final run in the eighth with a pinch-hit RBI single. Bañuelos (6-3) earned his team-leading sixth win with 5.2 solid innings and struck out a season-high 10 batters. The lefty allowed two runs and six hits with three walks, although two were intentional. Beede (3-6) was hit with the loss.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Tyler Pill (0-1) makes his seventh start of the season for the Dodgers tonight and second since rejoining OKC May 31 from Double-A Tulsa...In his return to the team May 31 against Omaha, Pill allowed three runs and eight hits over 5.1 innings. He allowed one walk and four strikeouts, exiting the game in a 3-3 tie...Prior to rejoining OKC, Pill appeared in two games with Double-A Tulsa. He started for the Drillers May 25 at Corpus Christi, pitching five shutout innings, allowing four hits and one walk with four K's in a no decision...Pill started his season in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization with Triple-A Reno and was acquired by the Dodgers in a trade for cash considerations April 17...He signed with Arizona in January, and prior to that, spent his entire career in the New York Mets organization...Pill made his MLB debut last season with the Mets May 27, 2017 against Pittsburgh and made seven appearances (three starts) in the Majors (0-3, 5.32 ERA)...Pill was selected by the Mets in the fourth round of the 2011 MLB Draft out of Cal State Fullerton...Tonight is his fifth career start against Sacramento. He started two games against the River Cats last season while with Las Vegas, going 1-0 with a 1.38 ERA over 13.0 innings. He allowed seven runs (two earned) and 14 hits with two walks and four K's.

Against the River Cats: 2018: 0-1 2017: 3-0 All-time: 37-43 At SAC: 19-22 The Dodgers and River Cats are meeting for their lone series of the season...OKC swept Sacramento in a weather-shortened three-game series last season at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The sweep was their first against the River Cats since 2002 when they won all four games in OKC...The series opened May 15, 2017 with Wilmer Font racking up a team-record and career-high 15 strikeouts - the most strikeouts in a single game by an OKC pitcher since the team rejoined the PCL in 1998. OKC outscored the River Cats, 14-8, in the series and hit six home runs...The teams last met at Raley Field in 2016, splitting the series, 2-2...OKC has split or won their last four series in Sacramento and has not lost a series there since going 1-3 in 2009.

Winding Road: The Dodgers' nine runs Wednesday night marked their highest run total in a nine-inning road game this season and second-highest run total in any road game. The Dodgers scored in each of the fourth through eighth innings and in six of nine innings in the game. Prior to last night, the Dodgers had scored in just five of their previous 38 innings on the road...Although the Dodgers have the most home wins in the Minors with a 23-6 record at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, they are just 11-15 on the road this season and are tied for the second-fewest road wins in the PCL. The Dodgers have lost six of their last 10 road games, and they have also lost nine of their last 13 road games and 13 of their last 19 away from Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...Of OKC's 15 total road losses, 10 have come by one or two runs. The Dodgers have been held to two or fewer runs eight times over the last 17 road games, with five games tallying one or no runs...The team is slashing .245/.308/.367 with 3.9 runs per game on the road compared to .314/.375/.490 with 6.1 runs per game at home...Tonight the team is attempting to win consecutive road games for just the second time all season and for the first time since April 19-20 at Round Rock. Each of the last five road wins has been followed by a loss.

Sautéed by Garlick: Kyle Garlick went 2-for-4 with a home run and triple last night while tying his season high with three runs scored. Following a 2-for-21 start after his promotion to OKC, Garlick is 25-for-72 (.347) with eight home runs and 17 RBI over his last 18 starts. He leads OKC with eight homers, and his 13 total homers between OKC and Double-A Tulsa are second among Dodgers minor leaguers this season, while his 31 total RBI ranks fourth among organizational leaders.

New Kids on the Block: Edwin Ríos drilled his first home run of the season in the second inning Wednesday night. He has hit safely in eight of his 10 games with OKC after missing close to two months of the season with injury. Over his last seven starts, Ríos is 11-for-28 (.393) with four RBI...In his first three games back with OKC after one month with Double-A Tulsa, Mora is 7-for-16 with four RBI and one run scored...Outfielder Andrew Toles returned to OKC's lineup Tuesday after being on the Disabled List since April 14 with a right hamstring injury and has hit now safely in each of his first eight games with the Dodgers this season, going 14-for-36 (.389) with five extra-base hits, seven RBI and seven runs scored.

On Strike: The Dodgers pitching staff racked up 15 strikeouts against the River Cats Wednesday night - their second-highest strikeout total in a game this season (16; May 19 vs. Nashville). Manny Bañuelos struck out 10 batters, becoming the third Dodgers pitcher this season with double-digit strikeouts (Dennis Santana, 11 - May 19; Caleb Ferguson, 10 - May 26)...The OKC pitching staff has notched 56 strikeouts through their first five games of June, which is tops in the PCL, and they have struck out at least nine batters each game...The Dodgers have 29 strikeouts through their first two games in Sacramento, and going back to last season, the Dodgers have recorded 12 or more strikeouts in five straight games against the River Cats for a total of 73 punchouts (14.6 per game).

Around the Horn: Alex Verdugo collected a game-high three hits last night and has now hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games, going 22-for-63 (.349) with 10 runs scored and six RBI...Kyle Farmer has hit safely in 15 of his first 17 games since joining OKC, swatting three homers and driving in 15 runs with 14 runs scored...Rocky Gale has hit safely in 21 of his last 24 games, batting .368 (32x87) with 12 RBI while raising his season average from .200 to .328...Tim Locastro is one of two players in the PCL with at least 10 steals who has yet to be caught stealing.

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